Sigla, Abbreviations, and Technical Terms Used

*, ** There was more than one John Gower in the later 1300s, and not all documentary references to ‘John Gower’ can be identified with certainty. A single asterisk (*) marks uncertain entries in which ‘John Gower’ is likely to have been the poet; a double asterisk (**) marks uncertain entries in which ‘John Gower’ is unlikely to have been the poet

’ ‘ Indicates a verbatim quotation or translation (all translations are by Martha Carlin)

&c. etc.

BL British Library, London

By p.s. Per breve de privato sigillo (By writ of the privy seal)

Carlin, ‘Gower's Life’ Chapter 1 in this volume

CCR Calendar of Close Rolls

CIPM Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem

co. county

CPR Calendar of Patent Rolls

LMA London Metropolitan Archives

Michaelmas Feast of St Michael the Archangel (29 September)

NSJB Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist (24 June)

ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)

Parl Rolls ‘Edward III: May 1366’, in Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, ed. Chris Given-Wilson et al. (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2005), http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/parliament-rolls-medieval/may-1366

TNA The National Archives, Kew

Money denominations: One pound (l. or £) = 20 shillings (s.) = 240 pence (d.)

For regnal years, saints’ days, and the legal calendar, see A Handbook of Dates for Students of British History, ed. Christopher R. Cheney, new edition revised by Michael Jones, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks 4 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).

1327 x 1343 Birth of John Gower, most likely in Kent; parents unknown, but seemingly connected with the families of Sir Robert Gower of Brabourne and Sir Roger de Northwode. [See discussion in Martha Carlin, ‘Gower's Life’.]

25 Dec. 1364 At Christmas, 38 Edw. III, William, son and heir of Sir William de Septvans, enfeoffed John Gower and his heirs of a moiety of the manor of Aldington (Kent) and certain marshes called ‘Lokelyng’ and ‘Herlyng’ in Iwade (Kent), in return for 80 marks (£53 6s. 8d.). [CIPM 1365–70, p. 76; Parl Rolls.]

25 Dec. 1364 – 29 Sept. 1365 The under-age heir William Septvans ‘continually dwelt in the company of Richard de Hurst and the said John Gower, at Canterbury and elsewhere’, from Christmas 1364 until Michaelmas 1365, ‘and during that whole time he was led and counselled by them to alienate his lands &c.’. [CIPM 1365–70, pp. 76–7; Parl Rolls.]